FIGUEROA: Buckman has been fixture at Escondido Country Club for more than 40 years

Jeannie Buckman worked at the same Escondido auto dealership for so long ---- 35 years, enduring three ownership changes ---- that she considered herself a "fixed asset" for the company.

The same can be said for her time at Escondido Country Club, where she has been a member for more than four decades ---- almost as long as the club has been open ---- and continues to play the course regularly at age 82.

"We were the 64th member to join Escondido Country Club," she said. "I've seen a lot of changes over the years."

Buckman didn't start playing golf until she was in her 40s, but she certainly has made up for lost time, as she still plays at least three days a week and has conquered the club's par 3s with eight holes-in-one over the years. Her first ace came in 1969, a year after she took up the game, and the latest one came in 2003. She has aced all of Escondido's five par 3s at least once.

"The last one was the hardest," she said. "It was 181 yards (on No. 11), the pin was in the back, and I'm sure I hit driver. I would have never dreamed in my life I would get that one."

Buckman grew up in Anaheim and moved to Vista with her husband in the mid-1950s, when "there was one stop sign in the whole town."

In the late 1960s, she was introduced to the game by Ted Woolley, an Escondido golf club manufacturer who also handled business affairs for Phil Rodgers when he turned pro. She immediately took to the game and joined Escondido Country Club as a charter member soon after it opened.

"When I was growing up, I never thought I would play golf because it was a rich man's game back then," she said. "We drove to Escondido every weekend to play."

She moved to Escondido in 1978 and has been there ever since ---- her home is just off the 16th fairway.

Buckman has had two knee replacement surgeries ---- one back in April ---- but that has hardly slowed her down. She was back on the course just seven weeks later.

"I was a single-digit handicap in my younger days, but that didn't last very long," she said. "I'm a 23 now, but I expect to get it back down to 15 by next summer.

"Some people can't believe I was playing after only seven weeks. Well, I said, ‘If you don't work at it, you can't play.' "

An active member of the Santa Margarita Women's Golf Association and the Women's Southern California Golf Association, Buckman doesn't repeatedly play her home club just for the fun of it. She's part of a team that competes at a variety of courses ---- and those who play with her know she can hold her own on almost any track.

"I don't know too many women at that age who can play like her," said fellow Escondido member Mardi Millons, who has known Buckman for nearly 20 years.